Visa vs Block

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KIRA’s take AI analyst

I put Visa and Block side by side, using each one’s latest annual report. Here is what stands out:

Visa is the larger business, with $40.0B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $24.2B for Block, about 1.7 times as much.
Visa grew revenue faster (11.3%, against 0.3%).
Visa kept more of each dollar of sales as operating profit (60.0% operating margin, against 7.1%).
Visa turned more of its sales into free cash flow (53.9% FCF margin, against 10.0%).
Visa earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (42.4%, against 6.4%).

Who comes out ahead

Of the 8 measures where higher (or lower) is clearly better, how many each company leads.

Visa

6/8

Revenue growthOperating marginNet marginFCF marginReturn on capitalReturn on equity

Block

XYZ

2/8

5-year growthNet debt / EBITDA

Side by side

Best in the row

Latest fiscal year	V FY25	XYZ FY25
Size
Market cap	—	$45.4B
Revenue	$40.0B	$24.2B
Free cash flow	$21.6B	$2.4B
Net income	$20.1B	$1.3B
Growth
Revenue growth	11.3%	0.3%
5-year growth	12.9%	20.6%
Share count change	—	−2.1%
Profitability
Gross margin	—	42.8%
Operating margin	60.0%	7.1%
Net margin	50.1%	5.4%
FCF margin	53.9%	10.0%
Return on capital	42.4%	6.4%
Return on equity	52.1%	6.0%
Balance sheet
Net debt	$8.0B	$207M
Net debt / EBITDA	0.3x	0.1x
Dividends and buybacks	$23.0B	$2.3B
Valuation & quality
P/E	—	133.1x
Piotroski F-score	—	5

Ten years

Revenue

FY16

V $15.1B

XYZ $1.7B

FY17

V $18.4B

XYZ $2.2B

FY18

V $20.6B

XYZ $3.3B

FY19

V $23.0B

XYZ $4.7B

FY20

V $21.8B

XYZ $9.5B

FY21

V $24.1B

XYZ $17.7B

FY22

V $29.3B

XYZ $17.5B

FY23

V $32.7B

XYZ $21.9B

FY24

V $35.9B

XYZ $24.1B

FY25

V $40.0B

XYZ $24.2B

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

V XYZ

Operating margin

FY16

V 52.3%

XYZ −10.0%

FY17

V 66.2%

XYZ −2.5%

FY18

V 62.9%

XYZ −1.1%

FY19

V 65.3%

XYZ 0.6%

FY20

V 64.5%

XYZ −0.2%

FY21

V 65.6%

XYZ 0.9%

FY22

V 64.2%

XYZ −3.6%

FY23

V 64.3%

XYZ −1.3%

FY24

V 65.7%

XYZ 3.7%

FY25

V 60.0%

XYZ 7.1%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

V XYZ

Free cash flow

FY16

V $5.1B

XYZ −$2.3M

FY17

V $8.6B

XYZ $102M

FY18

V $12.2B

XYZ $234M

FY19

V $12.0B

XYZ $265M

FY20

V $9.7B

XYZ $34.7M

FY21

V $14.5B

XYZ $714M

FY22

V $17.9B

XYZ $5.1M

FY23

V $19.7B

XYZ −$50.2M

FY24

V $18.7B

XYZ $1.6B

FY25

V $21.6B

XYZ $2.4B

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

V XYZ

Return on capital

FY16

V 17.0%

XYZ —

FY17

V 16.8%

XYZ −25.0%

FY18

V 26.5%

XYZ −4.9%

FY19

V 31.0%

XYZ 2.6%

FY20

V 27.8%

XYZ −1.5%

FY21

V —

XYZ 8.1%

FY22

V —

XYZ −5.3%

FY23

V 40.5%

XYZ −1.3%

FY24

V 42.9%

XYZ 5.0%

FY25

V 42.4%

XYZ 6.4%

FY16 FY17 FY18 FY19 FY20 FY21 FY22 FY23 FY24 FY25

V XYZ

Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.